This
Canadian company’s new owner acquires a chain with a commitment
to floral.

by
Monica Humbard

How
does a supermarket chain that is family owned for 30 years make
the transition to corporate ownership? Smoothly, it appears, in
the case of Thrifty Foods, based in Central Saanich,
British Columbia, Canada.

Sobeys
Inc., a $13 billion grocery retailer with 1,140 supermarkets
across Canada, acquired the Thrifty Foods chain in September
2007 in a $260 million deal. According to Wendy Whincup,
director of Thrifty Foods’ floral operations, Sobeys made few
changes to the 20 Thrifty Foods stores throughout Vancouver
Island and British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, running the
company as a stand-alone subsidiary and keeping the Thrifty
Foods banner.

reputation
for quality

Thrifty
Foods, which has its own food distribution center and a
wholesale food division, has established an impressive
reputation since its founding in 1977 by two business partners.
With about 4,000 employees, the chain is Vancouver Island’s
largest private-sector employer. Last year, for the fourth year
in a row, the country’s leading business awards program, which
recognizes excellence in Canadian-owned and -managed companies
with revenues more than $10 million, once again named the chain
one of Canada’s “50 Best-Managed Companies.”

In 2007,
readers of community newspapers in the Greater Victoria, British
Columbia, area voted Thrifty Foods “Best Grocery Store.” In
addition, as part of the 2007 Black Press “Best of the City”
Awards, the chain received first-place recognition in six
categories, including “Best Specialty Deli” and “Best Fresh
Seafood.” Readers recognized Thrifty Foods with a second-place
award for the “Best Flower Shop.”

Thrifty
Foods credits part of that success to the company’s support of
charitable causes and a high level of community involvement
locally and regionally. Under its new ownership, the chain
continues to follow the same mission statement that helped it
earn the success it celebrates today: “Thrifty Foods is
committed to providing quality food products at competitive
prices with friendly, helpful staff in clean, well-stocked
stores.”

Candice
Wheeldon, floral manager at the chain’s Courtenay location
on Vancouver Island and a 16-year employee, says the new
ownership has allowed the stores to “carry on” as usual. “This
is a true testament to who they [Sobeys] are, recognizing that
we are a successful company already,” she says. “They always say
they are the fortunate ones for having acquired such a great
company.”

In a press
release announcing the acquisition, Bill McEwan, Sobeys’
president and CEO, said, “We are delighted to have entered into
this agreement with [founder] Alex Campbell and Thrifty Foods.
Thrifty is a very well-respected and well-run food-focused
retailer, with great management and a reputation for exceptional
customer service.”

floral
support

Ms. Whincup
says she is confident that the company recognizes that floral
departments, which are present at all 20 Thrifty Foods stores,
are important to the chain’s success. Ms. Wheeldon says she
senses the same support. Corporate recognizes floral as a
growing division, she remarks, and gives departments the freedom
to do what needs to be done to build sales. “We are making a
good effort to put ourselves on the map in this industry. This
shows through our skills and pricing,” she comments, noting that
it shows as well in her department’s sales and in feedback from
her customers.

ESTABLISHED 1977 by
Alex A. Campbell and Ernie Skinner, who left the company
in 1991. Mr. Campbell sold the chain to Sobeys Inc. in
September 2007.

AVERAGE STORE SIZE
29,000 square feet

EMPLOYEES About
4,000

FLORAL EMPLOYEES
130; floral departments are staffed with two to eight
employees at one time, which may include two to four
designers.

FLORAL SERVICES All
20 stores have full-service floral departments with
different levels of wedding, sympathy and custom-order
services. All departments are affiliated with FTD Group,
Inc. and provide delivery services.

Some Thrifty
Foods locations have store renovations in the works, Ms. Whincup
describes, and she proudly adds that many of the renovation
projects started with the floral departments. These renovations
include new sinks, counters, equipment, displays and coolers, as
well as cosmetic changes such as the addition of more upscale
ceramic tile and slate accents. She expects the renovations to
improve the work environment and make the departments more
customer friendly.

floral
overview

All 20 of
the Thrifty Foods locations have full-service floral
departments located at the front of the stores. They handle
florals for all occasions, including weddings and funerals, take
custom orders and offer delivery. The chain’s Web site,
www.thriftyfoods.com, has a page devoted to floral, describing
the operation’s services and including a complete section on
wedding services with photos of bouquet, boutonniere, corsage
and centerpiece design ideas. One of Ms. Whincup’s goals this
year is to showcase more everyday design ideas on the Web site.

Depending on
the store size, each floral department is staffed with two to
eight employees, which includes two to four designers at a time.
Ms. Whincup points out that even floral clerks at Thrifty Foods
usually can do some level of design work.

The chain’s
marketing department promotes floral in weekly fliers as well as
newspaper advertisements and radio commercials targeted to large
floral holidays, such as Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.
Thrifty Foods’ free publication for shoppers, Fresh, a
full-color, high-quality magazine, also contains seasonal
articles regarding floral four times a year, such as one written
for the spring issue by Ms. Wheeldon about the chain’s “Garden
Patches,” where customers can buy all their gardening supplies.

All floral
managers are expected to give their departments new looks every
season, but Ms. Whincup encourages them to change displays every
week or month to focus on items they are promoting. Ms. Wheeldon
has many repeat customers at her location, some of whom come in
daily. Therefore, she tries to change some displays daily and
most weekly.

Ms. Whincup
also encourages her floral departments to cross-merchandise with
other areas of the stores. At the Courtenay location, the
department’s small size limits what Ms. Wheeldon can bring in,
so she tries to “get beyond our corner to try to get more
impulse buys.”

Ms. Whincup
is working to increase the number of destination and call-in
sales. When she started in the supermarket floral business, her
goal was to reverse the idea that when shoppers come in to pick
up milk, they buy flowers. She wanted her customers to come in
for flowers first and then end up getting groceries. In the past
few years, she has noticed that some customers come in
specifically to work with a particular designer. Some even bring
in their own containers. Ms. Wheeldon says, “This is the biggest
compliment when people want to see your work in their gifts and
homes.”

buying
procedures

Ms. Whincup
chooses Thrifty Foods’ floral suppliers and establishes programs
with them. However, once she has chosen the programs and
vendors, floral managers do their own buying for their
particular clientele. Managers are free to order products
outside the programs as long as they are from the established
vendors.

Ms. Wheeldon
appreciates the opportunity to make selections for her
customers. “This is critical to how successful we are,” she
says.

When
choosing vendors, Ms. Whincup, a native to the area, tries to
support local suppliers whenever possible. She insists, however,
she will not sacrifice quality to buy locally.

product
selection

Cut flowers
make up most of the floral business at Thrifty Foods stores,
with bouquets being the strongest category. The floral designers
create bouquets in-house and also design recipes that are
produced by outside suppliers. Some bouquet recipes are designed
by the floral management team that oversees all 20 departments.

Foliage and
blooming plants is a smaller category for the chain; however,
some floral departments sell a lot of tropical and flowering
plants. Price points vary from store to store, but Ms. Whincup
notes that $6.99 potted plants sell well. She says $9.99 and
$14.99 items, which are normally 6-inch plants with upgraded
pots or wraps, also work well for the chain. Ms. Whincup says
that if customers can see that the $14.99 items are more
beautiful than the less-expensive options, they will perceive
them as the best value and purchase them.

keys to success

EMPLOYEES The Thrifty Foods floral management team is
made up of people devoted to the demands of floral. The
floral staffs are trained to know how to produce what
their customers want. Many of the designers have
developed their own loyal clientele.

TRAINING The Thrifty Foods chain has customer-service
training for all employees as well as three levels of
training for floral managers and/or staff. A class
specifically targeted to wedding business was added for
2008.

SUPPLIERS AND PRODUCTS The floral director chooses
suppliers who put the same emphasis on quality that she
does. Once she chooses the chain’s floral vendors,
floral managers are free to order from established
programs as well as other items from these vendors.

COMMITMENT TO CUSTOMER SERVICE Floral department
staffers are expected to provide excellent service. As a
result, word-of-mouth advertising over the history of
the company has built increased floral business.

One of Ms.
Whincup’s primary focuses in recent years has been the chain’s
Garden Patches. She has improved sales in this area by working
with local growers to develop planters exclusively for Thrifty
Foods.

Another area
she has targeted for increased sales includes vases, giftware
and home-décor items. She says this covers anything that can
“complement your flowers.” Her goal is to increase sales by
encouraging customers to purchase $9.99 decorative vases that
complement their homes instead of $4.99 everyday ones. She finds
items that fit with the latest fashion and home interior trends
and merchandises complementary items together so they are
irresistible.

floral
training

When asked
how she sets her floral departments apart from her competition,
Ms. Whincup says, “It gets tougher and tougher every year.
Everywhere someone is trying to sell a floral bouquet.” One of
the areas she says sets Thrifty Foods floral departments apart
is the company’s training for managers and staff. In addition to
floral-related courses provided by some of the chain’s vendors
and Thrifty Foods’ own customer-service classes for store-wide
employees, the chain offers three levels of in-house floral
courses.

The first
course is a basic class that covers such topics as processing
flowers and merchandising. With manager approval, staffers can
move on to the second-level class, which covers design work. A
third, more advanced, course for managers was just added. It
covers more about merchandising and design work such as
sympathy. The company also recently added a separate class
targeted to wedding work.

going
forward in 2008

While many
of the Thrifty Foods floral departments have already established
a strong wedding business, one of the key focuses for 2008 is
expanding this area even more. Ms. Whincup says Thrifty Foods
handles hundreds of weddings a year. It promotes wedding work
through the chain’s extensive wedding brochure, which details
Thrifty Foods’ wedding services for all departments and
showcases a variety of floral design ideas. The chain also takes
part in bridal shows, and Thrifty Foods’ marketing department
ties floral into wedding advertisements for the bakery and deli
departments.sfr